Gore In Line For Endorsement Plum: Afl-cio

LOS ANGELES — With all of the problems of his troubled presidential campaign, Vice President Al Gore now can at least count on big labor standing by his side.

There was little doubt Monday at the AFL-CIO's biennial convention here that the organization, representing about 13 million workers, will endorse Gore in his bid for the Democratic nomination and the presidency.

"The question is really Gore now or later," said Stephen Rosenthal, the AFL-CIO's political director. After the delegates vote on the nomination Wednesday, Gore is expected to address them.

Anticipating a Gore endorsement, AFL-CIO officials said they recently advised his rival, former Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, that it would be best if he stayed away from the convention. They said they did not want to embarrass Bradley, considered by them to be a friend of labor.

Picking up labor's support is important to Gore's campaign because it clears the way for him to receive financial support from labor unions' political action committees.

But, since corporate America typically outspends big labor by a wide margin, union support is far more critical in terms of providing volunteers, running telephone banks and doing the chores needed to forge winning campaigns.

Union households accounted for nearly one out of four voters in the last two national elections, and AFL-CIO officials expect those numbers to climb in 2000 as they increase their get-out-the-vote effort.

Written off not long ago as political has-beens, union officials are pleased by the attention that has been given to their political decision-making and the wooing by the rival Democrats.

Still, big labor is less than 100 percent behind Gore. Some major unions are either vowing to hold off support, saying they want to see how Gore's policies play out in the campaign, or are waiting for the White House to offer them rewards for backing the vice president.

Although Bradley had been campaigning heavily for union support, he apparently could not overcome the drive in favor of Gore. AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and such influential unions as the American Federation of Teachers and American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees led the pro-Gore movement.

President Clinton also played a role, ranging from attending a Teamsters dinner last week in New York--a rare visit by a president to a union with such a troubled past--to calling a mutual friend of his and Doug Dority, the head of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, urging the union to back Gore.

The last time the AFL-CIO came out with an endorsement so early in the presidential election cycle was 1983, when it backed former Vice President Walter Mondale.

The reason for the early endorsement, Rosenthal said, is that the state primaries have steadily crept forward on the calendar, and the giant labor group will need time to crank up a campaign in favor of its candidate.

"The danger of not doing something now is that (Texas Gov.) George W. Bush will get elected," Rosenthal said.

The dent in big labor's solidarity comes from several unions. The 1.3-million-member Teamsters and the 760,000-member United Auto Workers are likely to vote against Gore or abstain from the vote, according to Teamsters spokesman Chip Roth.

Their major complaint with Gore is over the Clinton administration's decisions on trade issues affecting their members' jobs. The UAW is still smarting from the administration's backing several years ago of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which opened the way for U.S. auto and parts manufacturers to shift even more of their production to Mexico.

Saying that Mexican trucks are safety hazards, the Teamsters want the administration to block the vehicles from entering the U.S., which NAFTA will allow, beginning in January.

The union also fears its members will lose work to lower-paid Mexican drivers.

The 1.1 million-member United Steel Workers is waiting to see how the administration rules on several trade decisions regarding foreign-made steel and iron products before making its decision on Gore, said a USW spokesman.

Less-expensive foreign-made products have added to the layoffs among steelworkers, and the union has been pressuring the government to use its tariffmaking powers to protect its members' jobs.